Connect
ConnectConnect Mentoring provides trained mentors who give one-to-one support for local secondary students who need someone to listen, support, encourage and empower them through whatever challenges they are currently facing.
Connect Mentoring provides support for young people who are facing challenges that are likely to lead to serious mental health issues resulting in poor social, health and educational outcomes. Each young person receives a series of at least six one-to-one sessions within school with one of our mentors.
Our mentors are trained in using the Solution-Focused approach. The young person is encouraged to focus on one or two areas of challenge within their life and to think about how they would ideally like those areas to be; what their best hopes are. Each week the mentor works with them encouraging them to find the resources within themselves to take steps towards their best hopes. The approach is highly effective with almost 100% of mentees reporting an improvement in their chosen areas of focus by the end of the sessions.
We work with young people to not just improve these areas but also to develop a confidence in their own power to positively affect their life by using the resources they have within themselves.
As the pandemic has progressed and health and social services have become more stretched, we have seen an increase in demand for mentoring.
It costs the charity approximately £20 per session of mentoring, if you would like to support this important and valuable work and make a positive difference in a young person’s life then please click on the link below.
We currently work in five local secondary schools.
Case Study
One student, at the upper end of secondary school age was referred to mentoring because of concerns over her risky behaviour. She was at serious risk of teenage pregnancy and health complications.
Her goal at the beginning of the sessions was to move on our scale of well-being (1 – 10) from a 2, where she felt she was now, to a 4 at the end of the six weeks. Only a modest improvement but all she felt she could hope for.
After several sessions there was a real ‘Light-bulb’ moment when the young girl suddenly fully understood that she had the power to make her own choices about her life, she had the power to say “No!”.
At the end of the six weeks when asked where she thought she was on the well-being scale, she had smashed her target of reaching a 4 and said she felt she was an 8!
Student’s quote on her feedback form:
“Thank you so much. Words cannot express how confidant you have made me and my new found ability to express what I need to the people around me. Thank you for always listening and keeping your faith in me when I wasn’t the easiest person to work with. There have definitely been some tough times but thank you for getting me through them.”
If you would like to find out whether Connect is available in your school, you need help getting a referral, or have any other enquiries, please contact
